The UK's Largest Legal

Events & Training Company

Joint Bank Account Holder Wholly Entitled to Asset

Laypersons are often unclear about the legal status of co-ownership, whether of land and property, or bank and building society accounts or other assets. At issue in a recent case was - who was beneficially entitled to the money held in a bank account which the deceased had put into the joint names of himself and a close friend

The Privy Council heard the appeal from Court of Appeal in the Bahamas[1].

What’s the background?The testator was a wealthy businessman who was in his 90s when he died. By his will, he left his Nassau property to a close friend; various pecuniary legacies to friends and charity; and his residuary estate to three individuals (including his close friend who inherited the property and who was also one of executors).

A month after making his will, the testator and his close friend (who inherited the Nassau property) went to the bank for the purpose of joining the friend to the testator’s existing bank account/s. The bank’s written note indicted that this was to enable the friend to ‘pay utilities’. The bank’s application form stated:

“JOINT TENANCY: Unless otherwise agreed in writing, all money which is now or may later be credited to the Account (including all interest) is our joint property with the right of survivorship. That means that if one of us dies, all money in the Account automatically becomes the property of other account holder(s). In order to make this legally effective, we each assign such money to the other account holder (or the others jointly if there is more than one other account holder).”

At the date of his death a few months later, the account held $190,000. A month later, the friend joined his wife as a joint account holder. However, a dispute arose as to whether the friend held the money on resulting trust for the testator – or whether it was intended to be a gift to his friend.

The trial judge ruled that the purpose of joining the friend to the account was simply to enable him to pay the bills for the elderly businessman, but the Court of Appeal (Bahamas) disagreed: a combination of factors meant that the friend had discharged the burden of proving that the testator had intended to make a beneficial gift to him.

What did the Privy Council decide?The Privy Council conducted a detailed analysis of the law on joint ownership of property, citing a number of previous authorities across various common law jurisdictions.

The Privy Council ruled that the joint account holder was fully entitled to the account on the testator’s death. It found that this was a case in which the two account holders of a joint account, by agreement with the bank, expressly set out (above their signatures), a declaration as to the beneficial interests in that joint account. On its true construction, the right of survivorship operated, “regardless who contributed the money to the credit of the account before that date”. No contrary agreement or later variation had been made.

Media Centre

“The Solicitors Group online directory is an established and respected channel for legal professionals, meaning I can talk to my existing and future customers about products and services both quickly and easily.”

Carole Hatton
Marketing Manager
Landmark Information Group

“Reaching our niche market can sometimes be challenging, however we find promoting our legal training courses on www.thesolicitorsgroup.co.uk an excellent way of contacting both existing and new customers. The service we receive from The Solicitors Group is both professional and relevant to our core activities and we would recommend their services to others.”

Euromoney

“I must say that to date we have been very pleased with the referrals we are getting from your site.”

Paul West
Orchid Cellmark

“The Newsdesk feature on www.thesolicitorsgroup.co.uk is ideal for us. Its prominent location on the site provides a great platform to communicate key messages to existing and potential clients.”

Neil Phillips
Marketing Manager
Countrywide Legal Indemnities

"We are very happy with the referrals we are getting from The Solicitors Group web-site."

C.A. Bishop
Technical Director
Wickham Laboratories Ltd

“We received 419 click-throughs to our site from advertising with www.thesolicitorsgroup.co.uk”

Legal Prospects

“Putting myself in my potential client's shoes, I consider www.thesolicitorsgroup.co.uk to offer perhaps the clearest and most user-friendly listing of expert witnesses, especially in its choice of index terms.”

Ivan Vince
ASK Consultants

“The banner ad looks great”

Samantha Dawson
Director
The Bundle Business Limited

“The Solicitors Group has been fantastic in helping us to raise awareness about bowel cancer, which kills 16,000 people every year in the UK. Bowel Cancer UK aims to save lives by raising awareness of bowel cancer, campaigning for best treatment and care and providing practical support and advice. Without the support of organisations such as the Solicitors Group we would be unable to carry out this vital work. We are very grateful to the team at the Solicitors Group for their support and assistance.”

Tamara Matthews
Legacy Officer
Bowel Cancer UK

“As a result of Law London, we have registered 208 new companies/firms to the website, generating £20,797 GWP to date, as well as reinforcing our presence in this very profitable marketplace.”

Aviva

“The event was well put together and executed, and the traffic of potential customers for us was high. We had a number of enquiries regarding our services after the event and we feel our attendance there was important to our overall brand exposure. We feel a Law event of this size without Euromoney Legal Training present could potentially be hurtful to us as a business. We would recommend you to attend and shall ourselves be there again in 2008.”

Euromoney

“Many thanks for the prompt service.”

Martin Gibbs MBE
Director / Investigator
Griffin Forensics Ltd

“A targeted email to key customers is an invaluable method of communication, endorse this with the Solicitors Group branding, relevant editorial content and you have created a winning combination! We look forward to reading the next edition.”

Carole Hatton
Marketing Manager
Landmark Information Group

“Talking directly to Property Lawyers is critical to us as they are key customers or potentially could be for all of our products, The Solicitors Group offer a perfect solution to get our messages right to the right people”

Carole Hatton
Marketing Manager
Landmark Information Group

“Thank you for having a useful and informative site, it is good to see a comprehensive and friendly portal.”

Stefan Fann
UK Probate Services

“Cadogans aims to keep its brand image in front of lawyers who may be looking for engineering experts. A check on Google analytics showed that referrals to our website from The Solicitors Group website were above average.”

Daphne Wassermann
Technical Director
Cadogans

Uniting the Profession.

the SOLICITORS group is a trading name of Practice Enterprise Ltd. Registered in England & Wales. Company Registration No. 05098852. Registered at MacMillan Building, Parcel Terrace, Derby, DE1 1LY. VAT Registration Number 859246388.